Gert & Daisy - 230 Squadron and the Chindits

[Kenny]

Thanks Alex, that's perfect...

The preceding page now features log book extracts for both Sunderlands involved in this operation...

[Kenny]

Just a brief update re the source of the BBC audio posted on page two and who it might be - edited within the relevant posting again...

More to come once I sort through it properly - found a letter confirming a request for Ceylon based Catalina's to be used for troop rescue in Burma during this time period... I'll post it as-soon-as...

[AlexNortonesq]

Ken: Don't get fooled into thinking that it was a Catalina pilot. He distinctly says near the beginning about being a Sunderland pilot.

[Kenny]

No issue there, Alex, but cheers for noting anyway. The Catalina reference is entirely independent of this matter and obviously has relevance here. Jo Lentaigne was in charge of 111 Indian Infantry Brigade (dad's brigade) and took over command of the overall operation from Wingate after his death, with his second-in-command taking over 111...

The voice on the recording has a distinct twang to it - I'm as certain it's Flt Sgt Wright now as I was it were Jack Rand, so...

[BarbaraLane]

To be honest the phrasing does sound like my father Jack Rand, and the things he finds funny are what Dad would have found funny but it isnt Dad's voice...I wonder if a censor read out Dads words?

[Kenny]

Hi again Barbara... That's well worth noting, and as we discussed, the reason for passing this on is to try and discover who the speaker is, and certainly you and other members of your family noted it was spoken in the "tones" of your late father, John "Jack" Rand... It's always going to remain a mystery unless families of all the crew are located and then they get the chance to hear it too... I made a mistake on placing its dialect and the friends that have now listened to it noted that there is a mixture of dialects involved... it is always possible that it was a "letter" the BBC arranged to be read out and it is almost certain that the writer was one of the pilots of DP180... the research continues...

Barbara and Alex... On another note I've just been sent a six page article this week published late last year and credited to Tom Docherty, writer of the best of the books with material on this subject, "Hunt Like A Tiger", that I intend to forward on to you both this weekend for your records. There are a couple of pictures and items I've not seen before, as well as a couple of pages from Flt Sgt Butcher's log book, which offers additional info and notes newsreel cameramen being sent to Indawgyi amongst other things... I would like post them here but might need to obtain permission first; I intend to crop these and put them up once stitched as they straddle two pages... transcription should not present an issue though...

[Kenny]

This is just a bump as it is now 70 years since my dad had escaped from Blackpool (25th May '44), badly injured, and was enduring a 4 day mountain crossing during the monsoon with no food and little or no ammunition. I'm presently compiling the Squadron's summer newsletter and will post a copy of the article at a later point, including some stills of DP180/O/"Gert" in flight during Operation River.
The crews of the two planes and those that organised the rescue deservedly should be remembered...

[AlexNortonesq]

Thank you Kenny for the reminder. With all of the (admittedly well deserved) hoopla surrounding D-Day, I will remember that it was on that day that my Dad was in the air from Bally (Calcutta) to Dibrugarh, the base on the Brahmaphuta from which he would flying Burma to assist in the evacuation of the casualties. D-Day sucks all of the remembrance attention out of people, and the war elsewhere in the world on that day might as well not have happened. I am presuming that Barbara has similar thoughts about what her father was doing. Cheers to both of you, and I hope that spring has finally sprung where you are.

[Kenny]

Cheer's Alex...

I've been slowly disassembling the IWM films of Gert and Daisy and the rescue period to post individual images (elsewhere - too bulky and time consuming to do this on multiple sites, I'm afraid) but I've had no "bites" from anyone yet...

I've written a minor article for the Squadron's newsletter for this edition that I'll post once its gone to "print"... the cover has a still showing the only time both aircraft were pictured together...

I can even give you the time and date of this one as it was just on alighting when your dad's plane first got to the Brahmaputra... it is sad to note that Daisy was languishing (water ingress in the fuel, starter motor failure, etc, iirc) at this point (no flight today - 15th June '44) and never flew another successful mission... 20th June was when she lost her float for a second time and that was that...

[AlexNortonesq]

It looks like you've done a lot of work on the films to produce the still here, and no doubt others. It looks good. Thank you for that, and for posting it here.

I look forward to your article in the Squadron newsletter.

We've had a late spring; but some warmer weather has finally teased us with a promise of summer.